Tony Travis

Hebrew University

Science, Technology, and Industry: The Case of Synthetic Ammonia

Ammonia is a simple molecule, converted into the most important nitrogen fertilisers. However ammonia is difficult to synthesise. Success was achieved in Germany on the laboratory bench in 1909 by Fritz Haber. The method was developed industrially by Carl Bosch of BASF, of Ludwigshafen. Inaugurated in 1913, what became known as the Haber-Bosch process achieved prominence during World War I when the ammonia was converted into explosives for the German armed forces. Though great efforts were made elsewhere to introduce similar processes they all ended in failure, at least until 1920, when the process of the Italian chemist Luigi Casale paved the way for the global spread of synthetic nitrogen technologies.

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